Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: What do we know about his life and death?

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was killed aged six by his father and stepmother in June 2020.

Here is what we know about his short life.

Arthur loved superheroes, Birmingham City football club, and reading - one of his favourite books was Julia Donaldson's 'The Snail and the Whale'.

He was described as a cheeky boy with a winning smile all those who loved him remember him by.

Arthur had lived with his mum, Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow, for most of his life. She and his father split up just before his second birthday, however they shared custody.

In February 2019, Ms Labinjo-Halcrow was arrested on suspicion of murdering her new partner, Gary Cunningham. At trial, it emerged their relationship had been abusive and she would be convicted for manslaughter.

She was jailed for 11 years in July.

After Ms Labinjo-Halcrow was arrested, his father Thomas Hughes assumed full custody of Arthur. For just over a year, they lived with Hughes' family.

In March 2020, Hughes moved in with his new girlfriend Emma Tustin, just as the UK went into lockdown. Arthur's life quickly became dictated by a regime of discipline and punishments.

Tustin made it plain she did not want Arthur in her house. He was removed from the bedroom he once shared with her own children and made to sleep on the floor in the living room.

He was also isolated from the rest of the family, routinely made to stand alone in the hallway for up to 14 hours a day, with further punishments if he dared to try and sit down.

He was regularly beaten, starved and deprived of water.

What food he was given was sometimes laced with salt by Tustin to make it inedible.

He was alone at home with Tustin on 16 June 2020 when she assaulted him.

She has never given an account of what she did to inflict his final fatal brain injury that afternoon, however experts said it was consistent with his having been shaken and his repeatedly head slammed either into the wall or the floor.

The authorities were aware of Arthur and in April social workers and police had visited him at home in Shirley. His grandmother, Joanne Hughes, had raised concerns about deep bruises on his back.

However during the visits, Tustin and Hughes put the bruises down to boisterous play - an account which was accepted.

When Arthur's school in Dickens Heath, Solihull, reopened, Hughes made excuses for why he couldn't go and lied about his son playing cricket in the garden when teachers called during lockdown.

Tustin and Hughes cut Arthur off from his extended family. He hadn't seen his maternal grandmother since 2019 and an increasingly fractious relationship between the couple and the Hughes' family meant he was hidden from them too.

Tustin admitted one count of child cruelty on the first day of her trial, relating to forcing Arthur to stand for hours on end in the hallway, and a second count on the final day relating to assaulting him. As well as murder, she was found guilty of two further counts of cruelty by way of poisoning Arthur with salt and withholding food and drink.

Hughes maintained his innocence on all charges throughout the trial. Jurors found him guilty of manslaughter rather than murder but convicted him of two cruelty charges relating to assault and intimidation.

A national review will examine whether opportunities to intervene were missed and what lessons can be learned to better protect children in the future.

This is in addition to an ongoing safeguarding review by Solihull Council.

The Attorney General has also announced a review into the sentences for Arthur's killers and whether they were too "lenient". Tustin was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 29 years and Hughes was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment.

There has been an outpouring of grief and love in the local community following the conclusion of the trial.

A number of football clubs, including Arthur's beloved Birmingham City, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers, organised a sixth-minute applause during their weekend fixtures.

Hundreds of people also gathered for a vigil on Sunday at the address in Cranmore Road, Solihull, where Arthur was killed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken out about the "appalling" case and said he found it "very hard... to understand how people could behave like that towards a defenceless little child".

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